“Don’t go,” the voice had been weak, barely audible in fact and both of them turned to face Drema with the same solemn look of vulnerability. They didn’t want to go, but they both knew it was best, worse yet, inevitable. “Please don’t go,” she said again her eyes wet and unable to return their stares.
“I must,” Sarah admitted though she felt a certain amount of doubt inside, in that part of her that still believed in happy endings, utopia, the good in people. That part of her wanted to stay here where she could be mothered and fathered as she never had, where she could love a little girl like she never thought possible. Embracing the woman once more, “You will never know what you have meant to me,” she wanted to tell her more about how she would never forget her, how she had grown to love them all so much, but tears choked the words to silence. She turned away quickly unable to stop the tears from falling and walked with great purpose to the door. If she didn’t leave now she never would.
Outside the house she returned to normal size. Wearing her jeans and a peasant top, Sarah’s heart broke. She would have sworn on a stack of bibles that she had actually heard the crack. It sounded just like a door slamming. Hoggle came to her side, compassionately taking her hand, “You stop yer cryin’. You’ll be back, back to read Sarah to sleep, back to help Drema cook.” He thrust his pointer finger into his chest, “I’ll see to it. We got each other through that maze once before and we can do it again.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief handing it to Sarah.
Her skin welcomed the cloth that wiped the water away. When she breathed in to sigh, Sarah could smell the scent of the stump on the handkerchief. It was like any other home she’d ever entered in her life. As soon as you walked through the door there was some scent, a candle, a food, a perfume that you would forever identify with the person or family inside. Sarah finished cleaning her face and stuffed the cloth in her pocket. “Ready?” Hoggle asked raising a hand to transport them.
“I think I’d rather walk,” she told him.
Understanding her hesitation they headed down the path toward the Labyrinth’s gates. Hoggle rattled off a list of reminders: Don’t step in the bog of stench. If you find yourself in an oubliette look around for hidden doors. Watch out for nippers. Don’t give the wiseman anymore jewelry. She had almost forgotten the wiseman. His words had seemed like rubbish then. “Young woman, the way forward is also the way back,” he told her. But now, those words haunted her, echoing in her head like a warning, stimulating the part of her brain that believed in destiny. Her body was recalling all the frustration, all the determination of her last journey. There was fear to some extent, but it took more to frighten her now, much more. Confidently she took her first step onto what had been red sand just days ago. Now there stood tall grasses around the water features, the dead trees were alive with foliage and grass paved the way to the stone walls.
“It wouldn’t have been long until he found you,” Hoggle told her, “not if your magic has already reached to here.”
Sarah only nodded still taking it all in. “No, I guess it wouldn’t have,” she muttered just then realizing he was talking about Jareth. There was one last sensation for her body to recall and it tingled at the idea of seeing him again. How on earth could anyone desire and dread the same set of eyes, the same pair of hands, the same coupling of lips? Then again, Sarah was no longer on earth.
“Sarah!” Hoggle called interrupting her thoughts. “Sarah!”
“What is it, Hoggle?”
“Be careful. Don’t take anything for granted and for pity’s sake don’t fall into these daydreams you’ve become so prone to.” His toe ground into the grass beneath his feat, his actions speaking more than his words. “And if you need me...”
Soft lips met his cheek and green eyes looked warmly into his, “I’ll call.”
The gate to the Labyrinth was still there, still the same enormous wooden structure Sarah remembered from her childhood. Grasping the handle she pulled back one side, and peered in. Same rocky dirt floors, a bit more debris than she remembered, same grey stone walls, same endless hallway in either direction. “Gotta start somewhere,” she sighed and let the handle go. Sarah faced right and headed down the hall in hopes of finding another old friend along the way. A great noise came from back where she had entered and Sarah assumed it was the gate swinging closed, but maybe it was Hoggle’s heart breaking as he realized that what one promises to a friend and what one is capable of doing for a friend are not always one in the same.
***** ***** *****
Yards of brick passed in her peripheral vision as she traversed the path. Some places the brick seemed sunken in, other it was missing altogether. Hoggle had spoken true when he told her the damage was only worse the closer it got to Jareth. The Goblin City must have been in ruins by now. Up ahead she could see where a section of wall had a huge chunk gone missing entirely. She approached it careful, not knowing who or what would be on the other side. It was too high to stick her head through, but low enough that she could get her arm through up to the elbow. Carefully she grabbed the bottom of the opening and started to apply pressure testing to see whether or not she would be able to pull herself up for a look around. Steadily she increased the weight she expected the wall to bear until she found herself lying on her back a collection of stone and brick scattered on and about her.
“Oh,” she moaned aching from the fall. “Guess it’s only my pride I’ve damaged.” Sarah stood and began brushing herself off.
“‘Ere now, what’s the meaning of tearin’ down the wall I spent all morning rebuildin’?” The voice had no face.
“Excuse me,” Sarah peaked her head through the now door sized hole and looked around.
“You the one did that?” A trough pointed at the hole. The tool was in the hand of a goblin, who strange as it was to see, donned paint splashed overalls and a cap. When the mortal didn’t answer he continued, “No matter. You’re here and you’re gettin’ blamed. Why I oughtta call out the king’s guards, but they’re all away on a mission for his highness now.”
“A mission?”
“Yeah, some best of the worst, spy on the Representatives, say no more kinda thing,” he gave her a nod.
Sarah liked the way he talked with a heavy English accent that dropped letters out of words at a moment’s notice with no rhyme or reason. She liked his mannerisms, how animated he was as he spoke to her and the gentle easy way of his words, but she couldn’t help thinking that Jareth’s little mission had already exposed her and she was doomed. “What’s your name?”
“Mason,” he said returning to his work, gathering up all the stone she’d pulled in on herself.
“I’m Sarah.”
“Well Sarah, right pleased to meet you.” He extended his hand which Sarah gladly shook before she bent down to help gather the rubble. “What you think you’re doing? Trying to get me axed? If his majesty saw you doin’ at he’d have me head. He was very specific when he told me Mason, you go and fix me Labyrinth stone by stone if necessary and don’t botch it up, or else!”
“Or else? What’s specific about or else?”
“Noth-thing,” he stressed plucking the stone from her arms, “but that’s enough for me.”
She laughed at him and kept right on helping. “Look, you weren’t told no one could help you?”
“Well no, but it ain’t right asking a young woman, such as you are, to ruin her hands in manual labor, such as this is.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I made this mess and I should help repair it. I want to help.”
“Suppose it wouldn’t hurt. Might actually save me aching back if you were to hand me the bits so I could fit them in.”
Four hours they worked on the wall the wall together. Sarah told Mason she was a friend of Hoggle’s. Of course they knew one another from working together in the Labyrinth and he told Sarah of a particular time when he had caught Hoggle sleeping on the job and snuck up on him, mocking Jareth’s voice and scaring him silly. “Like this,” he said and it was Jareth’s voice that escaped his mouth when he spoke again, “Sleeping on the job again, Hogwart?”
“That’s amazing,” Sarah said with her eyes wide.
“Not much. Every mythical has magic, mine’s imitation. Long as I’ve heard it,” this time Sarah’s voice rolled over his lips, “I can duplicate it just as easy as this.” Her laughter made him smile.
“My but that is the sincerest form of flattery.”
Mason looked at the wall, the last brick in place, the last of the mortar spread, nothing left to do but seal the area. The goblin was busy struggling to get the lid off the sealant when Sarah smoothed her hand over the patch they’d made, admiring what Mason had done. Instantly the patch was sealed. Sarah drew her hand back and gasped.
When he faced forward, Mason gawked at what he saw. “How’d you do that?”
“Must be my magic,” she said still in shock herself.
“Blimey!” Mason approached the wall and gave it a knock, it was still standing. “Well,” he said, “gotta be movin’ along, more spots to patch. Don’t suppose you’d care to join me?”
“Sorry, I have to get,” Sarah thought careful about how best to get where she wanted without letting out too much information about what she was doing, “to where the damage is the worst.”
The goblin humpfed at her, “Ambitious one ain’t ya? Suit yourself then. You’re goin’ wanna go that way,” he indicated left, “until you come to what looks like a dead end.
Don’t turn round, otherwise the maze will mix everything up on you and the passage with close. Instead, keep lookin’ at that wall and reach out your right arm, the passage will open and you can go right through the wall. That shouldn’t be any problem for you, right?” he nudged her with his elbow. “Once you’re in the new passage take the third left and go down the stairs. At the bottom there’s a spotty chap who’ll get you the rest of the way. All the worst damage is closer to the castle, but if I was you, I’d stay with me.”
“You’re probably right, but I’m like you, I have a job to do. I’m sure that someone such as yourself can understand duty.” Her fingers crossed behind the long sleeves of her peasant shirt as she hoped he would agree.
Mason beamed and slid a thumb beneath the strap of his overall, “Indeed I do, miss, indeed I do.” He tipped his cap to her before he left.
***** ***** *****
Following the directions she had been given, Sarah made her way to the staircase and approached carefully, whoever this “spotty chap” was, she didn’t want any surprises. There were only a few wide steps which finished in two small columns, each with a flat pedestal that held a bust of an angel. Sarah had never come across anything like this last time. The closest was a courtyard with the wiseman’s throne and a large urn, but this was beautiful. Then it occurred to her, it shouldn’t have been. She asked Mason to send her where the damage was worst and he had tricked her!
“Halt, who goes there?” a familiar voice cried out while Sarah was still looking around at the columns and arcades that lined the open space to the right at the bottom of the stairs. “Milady!” Sir Didymus cried out, “Milady is it truly you?”
“Didymus?” Sarah flung her arms open wide and the tiny creature went tearing into them like a shot. “It’s very good to see you Sir Didymus.”
“And to see you, sweet maiden. But tell me, what brings thee back here.” He narrowed his eyes in on her out of concern.
“I wish to see the one within the Labyrinth whose smell is the keenest, who’s heart is the bravest, who shall fight anyone, anywhere, anytime...”
“‘Tis I milady, ‘tis I,” he extended his arm wide and bounced madly back into her grip. “Ambrosius, come we have a visitor, you and I.”
The sheepdog came lugging into the court as if it were feeding time and jumped at Sarah, who set Didymus down so that she could pet Ambrosius properly. “Hello fearless steed,” she smiled down into the fur that covered his eyes. “I wish I had longer to stay and chat, but I must reach the castle before nightfall.”
Fox that he was, Didymus smelled something not right about Sarah’s words. “Ah, so you have come for more than just a visit with me and my steed. What is it that you’ve come for?”
“Please understand, I would tell you, but I’m here to do something very personal, something I dare not get anyone else involved with.”
“But milady, when last you, Hoggle, Brother Ludo and I joined forces we were unstoppable.”
“Be that as it may,” Sarah smiled at the memory, “I am no longer a child and the journey I make now has greater risks and greater stakes. I won’t involve you.”
Didymus looked at her and switched his head from resting on his left shoulder to his right and back again. “So it is true, you are no longer a child. Indeed you have grown up nearly as much as you have grown beautiful.” At his side Ambrosius rolled onto his back and begged for a tummy rub. “Ambrosius!”
Sarah bent to oblige him. “Thank you Sir Didymus. I wonder if you might help me some. Mason said you could help me get to where the damage of the Labyrinth was greatest, but this,” she eyed their surroundings, “this is far too beautiful a spot to have gotten me any closer to the castle.”
“Not so. In fact, Mason has helped you through the first quarter of the maze. This is a sanctuary. Jareth had it built ages ago, but few know of its existence. With no bridge to guard at the bog, he sent me here.”
“To guard what?”
Sarah followed him to a doorway, “This.”
“What is this?”
“This is the tomb of the Leanan Sidhe and none but the king may enter without my permission.”
This was a conversation that had been had many times before. “May I have your permission?” Sarah asked him growing more curious with each second she stood before the mausoleum.
At great length Didymus said, “Yes?” It was more of a question than an answer, but either way.
Based on the type of building she was about to enter, Sarah did so quietly and with immense respect. Torches burned along the walls casting their light on the herringbone stone pattern on the floor. The room was small, smaller than Sarah expected it to be. On the far wall was a gigantic painting of a beautiful woman whose hair was long and black. She wore a violet dress that wove around her accenting a slim figure. Her arms crossed her bodice, hands and fingers extended up. She had long fingers, almost unnaturally long Sarah thought. Flames licking at the torches made light jump and she appeared to dance. Without knowing it, Sarah had approached the photo. Beneath it a plaque read: Here lies the soul of the Leanan Sidhe although her body is realms away. Not even her son could quiet the cries that came from loving too hard until one dies.
Sarah reached up to wipe away a fugitive tear that had escaped her eye. If Jareth had this place built, it only stood to reason that this woman was his mother. She thought the look in the eyes of the painting was familiar. They had the same passion in them that Jareth’s eyes did, the same far away something that she was never able to put a finger on that made him seem forever elusive. On the floor, beneath her photo there were piles of dead flowers. Sarah turned to leave, suddenly feeling like she didn’t belong in this shrine, like she had been wrong to even enter it. In the corners of the opposite wall she saw two cases made of crystal. In the one to the right bloomed a calla lily. In the case on the left, what Sarah recognized as an Indian dream catcher hung, two raven feathers dangling from leather ropes off the bottom. It was one thing to find the plant, it was quite another to come across a piece of native American culture inside a tomb hidden deep in the Labyrinth. Fear struck her heart and she fled the mausoleum. Something or someone was very unhappy that she was there.
In her hurry, she nearly tripped over Sir Didymus, “Milady, are you alright?”
“I...ah...you know Didymus, I’m thirsty. Do you know where I could get some water?” Sarah hadn’t thought about filling up before leaving Hoggle’s house.
Sir Didymus guided her to a small fountain off to the side of the courtyard. She refilled the bottle in the side pocket of her bag and then cupped her hand and gulped down mouthfuls until her thirst subsided. She pulled out an apple and some of the crackers and cheese she had packed. “Wish I would have thought to bring a knife,” Sarah said. Almost before she finished wishing for it, the knife appeared in her hand. Sarah split the apple into eight pieces and sliced some of the cheese. “Care to join me?”
The small fox jumped up on the fountain to sit beside her. She handed him a piece of the apple which he looked at for some time until he saw Sarah eat a piece and then he knew what to do with it. Sarah fed Ambrosius a piece of cheese which he seemed to enjoy quite a lot. Reunited, the three of them ate while Sarah and Didymus chattered away. He couldn’t resist recounting how many goblins there had been who suffered at the hands of the brave knight since last Sarah was in this strange place. ‘No doubt,’ she thought as she watched his animated re-enactments
At some length, having recovered from the eerie feelings which spooked her out of the mausoleum, Sarah asked Didymus about the tomb. “The king had it built to honor his mother,” he admitted as a sorrowful expression lengthened his face.
“How did she die?”
“The Leanan Sidhe went Aboveground and stayed too long. She willed herself to die. The mortals buried her body in a unmarked grave and her soul returned to its home in the Underground. At first, it was quite a bothersome thing, wrecking all kinds of havoc round the castle. Fey do not commonly condemn themselves the way she had. Her soul could not admit that it had passed and so Jareth built this home for her.”
“I thought fey were immortal,” Sarah said, confusion written in her eyes.
“Tis true. Yet there are a few things that can do them in. Foremost, iron, they are most susceptible to the metal and even a small wound has the potential to threaten their life. A jab in the heart is certain death. The next greatest danger is entrapment. A mortal will sometimes snare a fey, usually when they are in creature form and imprison them in iron cages. The iron weakens the fey’s magic and therefore they are unable to escape. This ties nicely into the third certainty, staying too long in the mortal world. The fey’s magic begins to fade, then the memories of the Underground and the life they knew, they change, not only who they are but what they are. None that I know of have ever survived the transformation from fey to mortal.”
“But what about Jareth? He’s gone Aboveground,” Sarah argued, “plenty of times.”
Sir Didymus made his eyes wide, “Jareth is a different story. He must go Aboveground in order to do what it is he does. He never stays long.”
For a moment she couldn’t speak. Jareth had come Aboveground, risked entrapment, risked losing his magic, his memory to see her. But then something in the way the brave knight looked at her was making Sarah think there was more to it. “I know he’s been there for at least a full day. There’s more to it isn’t there?”
“Jareth can do as he pleases, he’s...” Sir Didymus had all to eagerly offered Sarah information that his highness would not be happy for a mortal to know and chose his next words very carefully, “...king.”
“But,...”
“It is no use milady. My tongue wags too easily in your company and I shall say no more on this topic.” The fox crossed his arms and looked away from her.
“Does he come here often?”
“Whom?”
“Jareth. There must be twenty five bouquets of flowers in there.” Sarah said remembering the collection beneath the huge painting on the far wall.
Didymus eyed her, perplexed by her concern for the fey she had once defeated. “He comes here often, yes, but he never stays long. He and his mother had a difficult relationship in life and even in death she keeps him at arm’s length, never allowing him to truly grieve for her or get to close.”
That was it. The part of her that now held Jareth’s soul was what the Leanan Sidhe was trying to rush out of the mausoleum. Even in the smallest amounts, beyond the constraints of death, a mother still knew her child. What Sarah couldn’t figure out was why? Why would a mother want to cast her own son away even after death? Jareth could be cruel, but had he been so cruel, even to her? Surely someone who came to morn, who brought flowers and built such grand monuments wasn’t capable of the kind of cruelty that made you turn them away.
As if he was reading her mind Sir Didymus reiterated, “I’ve told you much too much already milady, I’m afraid I can tell you no more.”
All around them the golden sun was turning more crimson. It was growing late. “Sir Didymus, how many hours of daylight are left?”
The fox looked into the sky and studied the position of the sun, “I would guess we have another four hours or so before darkness begins to fall. Why doust thou ask milady?”
“I mustn’t be in the Labyrinth once it gets dark. Hoggle said that I mustn’t I’ve got to get to the castle.” Quickly she gathered her water and closed her bag. “It was wonderful to see you again,” she told him and bent to kiss his cheek. Then with a final wave Sarah took off through the opposite end of the courtyard in a fast jog on her way to the castle.
“But milady...milady...” Sir Didymus called after her, “you don’t know where you’re going?”
Though she had been hasty, Sarah was still headed in the right direction. Had she exhibited a little more patience, her friend could have shown her a faster path, not plagued by the mysteries and mythicals of the Labyrinth, but what was done, was done. The walls were starting to look monotonous again, no doors, no turns, no holes large enough to crawl through, but at least there were holes. When she saw the damage, it comforted her. Where the damage grew more severe, her feet traveled closer to the castle, closer to Jareth. Sarah’s mind wondered again about his relationship with his mother. Distraction had taken over her better judgment and as she ran facing straight ahead, looking for somewhere to turn, some direction to change, the floor beneath her opened and she was swallowed up.
“Damn!” she cried out when she made contact with the hard dirt floor. “I would go and land myself in an oubliette.” All around her she could see only black. It had been the same when the not so helpful helping hands lowered her into the oubliette the first time. Only then she had Hoggle to save her. What was it he said? ‘Look for hidden doors,’ she thought as she began crawling around feeling with her hands. “Ouch!” she cried when her fingers stubbed into something rising from the floor. It was wide, cold, made of stone and rose four feet or more off the floor. Using it for balance Sarah stood. She found herself behind a podium of sorts. Smoothing her hands over the top, she found a small depression, circular, about the size of a half dollar. Pressing on it, it gave way. Her finger drew back. ‘A button,’ she thought depressing it as far as it would go.
Light filled the cavern where she had landed. To her right a stone head very much like the false alarms she and Hoggle had met when he was leading her toward the castle. “Welcome to the Hall of Truth,” the head told her.
“Thank you,” she replied, “but if you don’t mind, why am I here?”
“I don’t know. I was going to ask you.”
Sarah was flustered. The fall was rather unexpected and she was not thinking before asking her questions. Again she tried, “What must I do to get out of your hall, please?”
“Ah, that is a much simpler question. I will ask you five questions which you must answer honestly. Should you fail to give an honest answer you will be met by some sort of obstacle, there are many here eager to be utilized. Should the obstacle overwhelm you, you will be vanquished from the Hall of Truth and delivered to the Pit of Consequences. Sound fun?”
“No,” Sarah replied thinking that truth was a rather interpretive concept and who was this stone head to determine her truth or not.
“Very good! That’s the first one then. That was easy enough.” The hall before her illuminated with a soft yellow light, a reward for her honesty, “Now what’s your name?”
‘This was going to be a breeze,’ she thought as she replied, “Sarah.” The stone head let out a cough as though her answer was some how incomplete. “Sarah...Williams?” It came out more of a question this time.
“You must advance to the platform,” the head explained, casting a red light on to a platform a few feet down the hall. “Use the items at the platform to provide your answer.”
There was always a catch in this place. Sarah approached the platform to see a series of numbered tiles. “How am I supposed to spell my name with a bunch of numbers?” she moaned.
“Not my problem.”
Sarah wanted to scream something about how unfair this whole thing was. How was she supposed to know what to do when he was behaving in such a cryptic fashion? Cryptic! That’s what this was. It was a cryptogram. Sarah had done them right out of the Sunday paper with her father for years before Karen came along and changed him forever. Each letter was assigned a number and you broke the code. She counted the number of tiles - thirteen - the exact number of letters in her name. This place already knew all the answers, it was testing her. This head that barked at her so monotonously from the side of this hall wasn’t seeking truth from her it wanted to see if she would admit the truth. Fine! If that’s what it took to get out of here. There were three number fives. Two each of the ones, threes, and sixes. One two, one four, one seven and one eight.
While she worked she talked aloud so she could hear herself think. “The fives must be a’s,” she said, “because there are three.” She dropped the fives into their slots. Then she picked up all her double number tiles and began to drop them into place. “One, five, blank, five, blank, blank, three, six, six, three, five, blank, one. Okay, now the singles: One, five, two, five, four, seven, three, six, six, three, five, eight, one.”
“Correct! You may move one.” The red follow spot now shown what reminded her of a bowling ally.
Approaching the lit area, she could see that in fact it was very much like a bowling alley. There were twenty pins, two of each number zero to nine. In the pedestal beside her a clear shoot dispensed wooden balls about the size of the skee balls from the Chuck E. Cheese’s where she would sometimes take Toby. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Patience,” the stone told her as it slid along like some giant chess piece trying to keep up with the mortal woman. “Most mortal woman hate to admit this, but what is your age?”
That struck a chord. Sarah hated that she was thirty, hated that she felt as if she’d wasted so much of her life. ‘What the hell?’ she figured as she wrapped her hand around one of the wooden spheres and lined it up on the alley. Her delicate fingers lifted from the ball and gravity took over. It rolled slowly down the lane. When it reached the end it struck a two pin and plunked into the black hole behind the pins. A small goblin popped up seemingly from nowhere and began running back and forth across the lane, shouting at Sarah about her inability and frankly being rather distracting. “What’s that?”
“That is one of the hall’s obstacles.”
“But I didn’t lie. I just missed the pin is all.”
“I should have mentioned that the game does require a certain amount of skill and concentration.” Sarah thought she saw the thing smirk when he said that.
With all her will she focused on the three at the end of the lane, even that damned goblin couldn’t stop her. Her fingers wrapped around another ball and she let if fly a bit more force behind this attempt. The ball rolled beneath the goblin’s feet and sent him tumbling. ‘Bonus!’ Sarah thought as she watched it continue to roll along and eventually take out one of the three pins. Without waiting for the stone to tell her to take her second shot, she grabbed the third ball and with as much concentration and fervor as before hurled it at one of the zeroes. This time she managed to knock them both over. Rather impressed with her self she turned back to the stone, “Well?”
“You may proceed.” Another few feet ahead was a narrow path which led to a platform open on all sides but for the path. “Please stand on the platform in the center.”
Sarah approached this challenge more carefully. She didn’t know what lie below the platform and wasn’t going to take any chance that it would be easier to conquer than the Hall of Truth. Once on the platform she released a great sigh. Behind her the narrow pathway folded back leaving her standing on a spot no more than twice the size of her feet. Her heart beat so fast in her chest she felt as if it would knock her off balance at any second. Deep breaths filled and fled her lungs in a steady rhythm as she tried to calm herself. From beneath her, the floor seemed to rise up around the pedestal. There were eight rings each divided in to 26 portions, each portion containing a letter of the alphabet, each ring made up of a complete set. They spun around her alternating clockwise and counterclockwise, speeding up as the concentric circles went further out.
“Who brings you to this Labyrinth?” The stone head spoke once more after a rather long silence watching Sarah dread this challenge.
The first wheel was spinning clockwise. Sarah poised a toe and waited for the H to make its way around. She stepped forward. The panel beneath her feet gave way and Sarah believed she would fall the entire depth of the chasm that surrounded the pedestal. Instead she dropped only a few feet before the stone head said, “Don’t lie to me Sarah.”
After a moment the platform rose and Sarah watched the counter clock-wise spinning of the second wheel. Didymus had brought her this far and Mason had brought her to Didymus. But there names were either too long or too short. F - R - I - E - N - D - S. That would fit she thought as she made her move for the F. A hatch on the far wall dropped open and Sarah knew immediately she was wrong again. Just as a barrel point slid out and shot a stream of flames across the hall, she dropped flat to the board beneath her, the spinning tiles giving her back one hell of an Indian burn, but it was better than the burn she’d have gotten otherwise.
The flames receded, “Perhaps you may not want to lie to yourself either.”
What did this place want from her? Hoggle had lead her straight to the Labyrinth’s doors and afterwards it was her friends which had brought her to this point. What else could the stone possible have believed would have brought her here? Certainly wasn’t the hospitality. Painfully the truth came to her head just as it had come to her heart - Jareth. The circles were spinning faster now and the task at hand was growing more impossible. If only she’d have thought of it sooner. Blurs of black ink went zipping passed, none staying long enough that she could focus on what they were. With a gulp she lunged forward on her best guess. In her mind she wished to land on the letter J. Surely enough when she opened her eyes the J was between her feet. She wished again as she leapt to the next ring and the next and the next and the last. Sarah eagerly jumped off the final ring and looked behind her. Now the letters seem ten feet tall as they spelled out the name of the Goblin King.
“Corrrrrect!” No sooner had her host spoke the spot illuminated her final challenge.
Sarah was tired and frightened. That last challenge had nearly done her in she had no idea how long she had been here or how deep under the Labyrinth she was. Being on the surface would have at least given her the few fleeting rays of light which remained in the day, but here she had only the stone head and the gloomy spot. “What if I don’t want to move on?”
“You have no choice,” came the reply as cold as the granite he was made of.
Reluctantly, Sarah moved into the light and awaited the next challenge, “What business have you with the king?”
“What business is that of yours?” she questioned.
“You will not ask questions. You will only answer them.”
“Really? Well what if I was to beat you at your own game?” Even if she wasn’t sure how she could do it, anything was better than just giving this thing its way.
“No one has ever beaten me. Few have ever survived this hall. I have been more than generous with you, giving you the simplest of questions to start.”
“Until I arrived no one had beaten the king either and you, you call yourself generous! What’s wrong with the creatures is this maze? They don’t know a thing about generosity.”
“That’s your interpretation of it,” he retorted.
Sarah crossed her arms about her chest, “Are you saying I’m wrong?”
“Indeed!”
“How so?” Their argument was heated, each had their eyes intent upon the other and words spat back and forth so quickly that if a response weren’t quickly thought of one of the opponents would be left speechless and looking rather foolish.
“I asked you if you were having fun.”
“So you did.”
“I asked you your name.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
“I asked you your age.”
“And I would have been most ashamed to have gotten that answer wrong.”
“But you still do not find me generous?”
“Oh yes, yes I do very much so.” A giant smile spread across her lips
“Then let us proceed, we’ve much to do and little time to do it in.”
“But we’re through,” Sarah told him, “And if it would please you all the same I would like to know how I can get back to the Labyrinth’s surface from here.
The stone head laughed, “Woman you’ve got mad if, you dare to imagine you’ve beaten me.”
“Ah, but I have. You asked if I still did not find you generous and I said that in fact I did, that being my fifth honest answer since my arrival in your hall. If I correctly remember your explanation five truthful answers in a row means I’ve completed your challenge.” She stood her ground smug and firm.
He opened his mouth and the roar that came forth caused the walls to crumble a bit. Sarah began to run as fast as her feet could carry her in the direction of the follow spot hoping that this tunnel led somewhere, preferably back up. The further she got, the louder the head cried, the louder he cried the more the walls caved in. Up ahead she could see just a few streaks of light and an old rope ladder like she and Hoggle used to crawl out of the tunnels where the cleaners had come for them. By the time she reached the fourth rung, the Hall of Truth behind her was nothing more than stone and rubble. It would be a long while before anyone played that game again.
***** ***** *****
In the distance the sun was setting, positioned like Humpty Dumpty on the top of one of the Labyrinth walls. Sarah looked left and right, both seeming to be viable options as she could see that they both had turns coming, but she went left when she spotted a portion of wall that had completely caved in. “Wherever the destruction is greatest,” she reminded herself before taking off down the path. Cautiously she looked in where the wall had caved through and it made her miss Mason, which made her miss Hoggle. It was getting darker inside the Labyrinth even though the sky was still light. Sarah could barely see five feet in front of her let alone tell what was inside this room she seemed to be peering into. “Best I not take any chances,” she said and continued straight ahead.
There were significant spots of damage showing in the Labyrinth now and the conflict that it created in Sarah’s mind kept her from enjoying the fact that she was getting closer. Still she must have been deep in the Labyrinth for it to be so dark. She tried wishing for a flashlight, but with no result. For a minute she wondered why her magic was failing her, but then she realized that she hadn’t had magic before so what would she be losing. She wished for something to eat and one of the apples from her bag was instantly in her hand. Okay so she hadn’t totally lost her magic, maybe it just wasn’t strong enough to retrieve things that were very far away she rationalized.
She could barely see in front of her nose when her hands felt another caved in section of wall. When Sarah looked inside it seemed quiet enough and the darkness made it look small. A yawn contorted her face as she thought about curling up in a corner and hopefully going unnoticed for the night. She could have wished for Hoggle, but he’d take her back home with him and she’d just have to do it all again tomorrow. By then everything could change again, sure it could have been for the good, but it also could have been for the worse. She’d come far this first day and if she could just make a few hours until sunrise she would no doubt reach the castle in tomorrow’s time. It was a chance her aching legs forced her to take. Slipping her pack off her shoulders so it could serve as a pillow, she stepped through the opening and turned to the right sliding her hand along the wall hoping to find a corner. The floor was soft and giving beneath her feet. Sarah only hoped that it wouldn’t giving way completely.
From behind the mortal two strong arms grabbed her, one large hand over her mouth suppressing her scream and the second around her waist. Much as she tried to deny it her mind told her this was her end. She refused to give up. Her arms and legs clawed and kicked at her attacker, but to no avail. Whatever it was that had a hold of her was too strong to fend off. Wisely she decided to save her energy on the off chance that this thing let her go and she might have a moment’s opportunity to flee. If her mouth were free she’d have called for Hoggle as she was only too hesitant to do earlier. Her mind went numb and her body limp.
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